Formatting text

The text formatting options in Corel PaintShop Pro let you control the appearance of text. You can set these options when you create vector, raster, or selection text. If you create vector text, you can reformat the text at any time by changing your text formatting settings. You cannot change the characters or formatting of raster text. You can modify raster text only by using the Pick tool.

You can use the following text options to format your text:

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Font, Size, Units, and Font Style — let you choose a typeface, type size, units based on intended output (print or Web), and type style (bold, italic, underline, or strikethrough)

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Alignment — lets you center multiple lines of text or align them on a left or right margin

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Direction — lets you set the horizontal or vertical direction of the text

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Kerning — lets you change the space between characters

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Leading — lets you change the line spacing

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Tracking — lets you set equal spacing between characters

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Anti-alias — lets you smooth the edges of text characters

You can also change the color of vector text. For information about using the Materials palette to choose colors for the text outline and fill, see Using the Materials palette.

How can you identify vector text?

Vector text, like other vector objects, can be identified by the vector icon that appears next to the text in the Layers palette.

To change font attributes

Edit workspace

On the Tools toolbar, choose the Text tool

Select the vector text characters you want to change by dragging over them.

You can also select the entire text by pressing Ctrl + A.

On the Tool Options palette, perform a task from the following table, and click the Apply button


To	Do the following
Change the font	Choose an option from the Font drop-list.
Change the font size	Choose an option from the Size drop-list.
Change the units of measurement for the font	From the Units drop-list, choose Points for print output or Pixels for Web output.
Apply bold formatting to text	Click the Bold button .
Apply italic formatting to text	Click the Italic button .
Underline the text	Click the Underline button .
Apply a line through text	Click the Strikethrough button .

To change text alignment

Edit workspace

On the Tools toolbar, choose the Text tool

Select the text object you want to align by dragging over it.

You can also select the entire text by pressing Ctrl + A.

On the Tool Options palette, choose one of the following buttons:

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— aligns the left edge of each text line to the initial cursor position

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— centers each text line on the initial cursor position

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— aligns the right edge of each text line to the initial cursor position

On the Tool Options palette, click the Apply button

To set text direction

Edit workspace

On the Tools toolbar, choose the Text tool

Select the text object you want to reposition by dragging over it.

You can also select the entire block of text by pressing Ctrl + A.

On the Tool Options palette, choose one of the following options from the Direction drop-list:

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Horizontal and Down

— positions text horizontally, with subsequent lines below the top line

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Vertical and Left

— positions each character vertically, with subsequent lines to the left of the top line

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Vertical and Right

— positions each character vertically, with subsequent lines to the right of the top line

On the Tool Options palette, click the Apply button

To change horizontal spacing between characters

Edit workspace

On the Tools toolbar, choose the Text tool

Select the text characters whose spacing you want to change by dragging over them.

You can also select the entire text by pressing Ctrl + A.

On the Tool Options palette, type or set a value in the Kerning control.

Positive values increase the spacing; negative values decrease the spacing.

On the Tool Options palette, click the Apply button

Kerning values are expressed as 1 being equal to one em space — the width of capital letter M for a given font and font size.

You can use the built-in kerning values for the current font by marking the Auto Kern check box.

To change vertical spacing between lines of text

Edit workspace

On the Tools toolbar, choose the Text tool

Select the text lines whose spacing you want to adjust by dragging over them.

You can also select the entire block or text by pressing Ctrl +A.

On the Tool Options palette, type or set a value in the Leading control.

Positive values increase the spacing; negative values decrease the spacing.

On the Tool Options palette, click the Apply button

To set equal spacing between characters

Edit workspace

On the Tools toolbar, choose the Text tool

Select the text characters whose spacing you want to adjust by dragging over them.

You can also select the entire text by pressing Ctrl + A.

On the Tool Options palette, type or set a value in the Tracking control.

On the Tool Options palette, click the Apply button

To smooth jagged edges in text

Edit workspace

On the Tools toolbar, choose the Text tool

Select the text object whose edges you want to adjust by dragging over it.

You can also select the entire text by pressing Ctrl + A.

On the Tool Options palette, choose an option from the Anti-alias drop-list:

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Off — applies no anti-aliasing (edges appear jagged)

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Sharp — applies a slight degree of edge smoothing

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Smooth — applies a stronger degree of edge smoothing

On the Tool Options palette, click the Apply button

Anti-aliasing may increase the number of colors in an image, which may cause stray colors to appear along the edges of text. Anti-aliasing may also make it difficult to reduce the file size and to maintain image quality.